nd makes mobilized participation mandatory. All of this state repression guarantees fear embedded in its citizens. In short, totalitarianism is ruling by fear and arbitrary terror. Politically, the Soviet Union was a party-state. Here all the members and the institutions of the state composed the U.S.S.R. They were all members of the same totalitarian party, and the leader makes up the entire party. The leader makes all the decisions and henceforth is the state itself. Under Stalin, from 1929-1953, the word totalitarian was made synonymous with the Soviet, and thusly Stalin too. Before taking office in 1929, Stalin made sure all opposition was eradicated. What taste of democracy Lenin gave to the Russian people was swiftly taken away with his death and Stalin's emergence on the political front. The reasoning for this was to insure all class gaps were closed; Communism takes care of that. His way of governing was comfortable and familiar to the people. What made Stalin happy made them happy. Although ultimately Stalin just craved political control, the good citizens of the Soviet Union were not going to be the ones to stop him.
             Gorbachev took power as the Communist Party leader in 1985, post-Stalin, after a few unsuccessful attempts by others at de-Stalinizing the Soviet. Nik
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